Portable battery-powered communication devices are advantageous in many environments, but particularly in public safety environments such as fire rescue, first responder, and mission critical environments. The desire to incorporate at least some portions of the portable communication device into a body wearable apparatus, such as a harness, vest, or shoulder strap, is becoming increasingly desirable so as to facilitate access to certain radio user interface controls. Challenges arise in the design of user interface controls into a harness, vest or shoulder strap apparatus in that the tactile feedback and visibility can become problematic under certain environments. For example, glove worn operation of a body worn harness, vest, or shoulder strap device can exacerbate sensing and actuation interface issues. Hence, the ability to address user interface sensitivity with a reliable unobtrusive implementation, for body wearable harness type devices would be highly advantageous to public safety markets.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved method and apparatus for a touch sensitive user interface of an electronic device. An improved touch sensitive user interface method and apparatus would be particularly well suited for a body wearable application in public safety radio environments where both gloved and non-gloved operations may interchangeably occur.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention.
The apparatus and method components have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present invention so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein.